Tag: Hydrangea

Autumn Glory

Published on by Catherine28 Comments

I hope no one objects, especially our host, Jim, but I’m combining two weeks of six photos this week. One should have been posted last weekend, but in life, things happen. With me, it was a recurrence of a neck problem. Photos were ready, but I wasn’t.

I’m combining both because this will be my last week of Six on Saturday posts until next year, either in late winter or early spring, I expect what happens in the garden might decide. I hope to continue to post when I have anything worthwhile to show and say, you never know – I might even manage to get a few more photography posts online. That category has needed attention for a long time.

I have a growing number of projects to complete at home over the next few weeks, then during the October school holidays one of my daughters and her family will be arriving for a visit and finally during November through early December, I’ll be flying off for a few weeks, visiting another of our daughters and her family in the US.

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240%

Published on by Catherine27 Comments

A small island close to where I live attracts many home-grown tourists and those from further afield. The favourite activity for visitors is to hire bikes from one of the cycle hire shops and cycle around the island. This can be achieved in about an hour, though most folk take longer as they stop to admire the scenery and enjoy some ice cream or cake from a local cafe. A few days ago official figures were released for the rainfall during August (keep in mind that we still had a few days of August left) and those figures showed that rainfall for August was 240% higher than average. I can’t argue with that, the rain this month has been relentless.

One of our teenage grandsons was visiting recently and it was a challenge to find enough indoor places of interest to take him to. He thoughtfully said he was happy to be in a cooler climate since his home town in the US was having a very hot and humid summer. He hasn’t been discouraged though, as he plans to come back next year, probably in the hope that it will be a rain and wind-free visit!

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Late Summer Gardening: What’s Growing in Week One of August

Published on by Catherine21 Comments

My visiting family have all returned home and our house is quiet again. The garden has been receiving some much-needed attention – it’s amazing the difference deadheading and pulling annual weeds make! While we haven’t had a heatwave, we did enjoy a couple of pleasantly warm days this week. Hooray! Today I’m heading out to a lunchtime Family History event and the current rainfall means I can happily enjoy the the indoor activities without feeling guilty about neglecting the garden on a good gardening day!

Here’s my Six on Saturday peek at what’s blooming in the garden this week.

Dahlia ‘Carolina Moon’ is one of the more successful dahlias and has flowered again this year after being lifted and stored, over several years. It has plenty of buds and although the leaves are damaged, the flowers have so far survived with only a little bit of damage. How I wish I could say that about some of the others that have been mercilessly nibbled.

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What a Difference a Week Makes

Published on by Catherine35 Comments

Seven days on and the garden is blooming. It felt like a long wait, but finally, several of the roses and other plants decided it was time to greet 2024. Since last Saturday and until mid-week we were enjoying a calmer period of weather that was a few degrees higher than it has been for many weeks. Our last warm spell was in May so this was welcome, but typically, it didn’t last. I photographed on Wednesday because one glance at the forecast told me it would be the last calm day and strong winds, plus rain, would make photography impossible on Thursday and beyond. So here it is, my selection of photos for this weekend’s Six on Saturday.

Six on Saturday

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Gently Fading

Published on by Catherine27 Comments

Four weeks ago, the featured image was Hydrangea ‘Pink Annabelle’. Forgive me; I’ve used Pink Annabelle again today. The colour has started to fade to a pale parchment with hints of pink, but she’s still holding onto her beauty. Unless the lovely flowerheads become lightly coated with a glittering hoarfrost, this will be her final photo call.

Yesterday I was assured that the wasps that banned me from the garden have finally gone. I’ve been able to cautiously start working outdoors again. The forecast tells me it’s going to be dry and sunny today so I’ll be able to head out to pot up some spring bulbs! Bulb planting begins – exciting!

There are also a couple more repeats on here today simply because they’re still showing their fabulousness while others are not. The recent rain has caused many of the roses to shed their petals, making them unworthy subjects for the camera! The hostas have been devoured by garden nasties (I said a few years ago that I was done with hostas for that reason, but I found I couldn’t be without them) and I’ve started lifting and binning this year’s poor and non-productive dahlias. I’m also planning to cut back a few perennials that are taking their last gasp and pull up annuals. This will give me space to plant the tulip bulbs later in the season. Winter preparations are underway before the weather gets bad.

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